AWS lambda api gateway error "Malformed Lambda proxy response"

Question

I am trying to set up a hello world example with AWS lambda and serving it through api gateway. I clicked the "Create a Lambda Function", which set up the api gatway and selected the Blank Function option. I added the lambda function found on AWS gateway getting started guide:

exports.handler = function(event, context, callback) {
  callback(null, {"Hello":"World"});  // SUCCESS with message
};

The issue is that when I make a GET request to it, it's returning back a 502 response { "message": "Internal server error" }. And the logs say "Execution failed due to configuration error: Malformed Lambda proxy response".

Answer 1

Usually, when you see Malformed Lambda proxy response, it means your response from your Lambda function doesn't match the format API Gateway is expecting, like this

{
    "isBase64Encoded": true|false,
    "statusCode": httpStatusCode,
    "headers": { "headerName": "headerValue", ... },
    "body": "..."
}

If you are not using Lambda proxy integration, you can login to API Gateway console and uncheck the Lambda proxy integration checkbox.

Also, if you are seeing intermittent Malformed Lambda proxy response, it might mean the request to your Lambda function has been throttled by Lambda, and you need to request a concurrent execution limit increase on the Lambda function.